OV-10 Squadron Keeps Broncos Flying

At 13 years-old, Mike Manclark fell in love with the OV-10 Bronco, an airplane few others noticed. He first saw one at an MCAS El Toro airshow in the 1970s, and despite all the fast jets on hand, the Bronco made the biggest impression.

“This funky looking airplane with a big tail boom comes flying by, pitches up and four guys come tumbling out of the back, parachuting,” he remembers. “I always dreamed of having one, one day.” Now he has eight Broncos: seven OV-10Ds and one OV-10G. Manclark, a longtime pilot, philanthropist, and former owner of Los Angeles-based Leading Edge Aviation Services, Inc., acquired his first Bronco after years of searching in 2016. He shipped it from a museum in Virginia to Matt Nightingale’s California Aerofab restoration shop at Chino Airport for a complete restoration to airworthy condition. But he wasn’t sure he had all the parts he needed.

“Out of nowhere I got a call from a museum in Mineral Wells, Texas that had seven Broncos!” Manclark traveled to the National Vietnam War Museum in Mineral Wells, looked over the airframes “scattered in parts everywhere around the property” and purchased them all, helping to fund the museum’s operations.

Eight flatbed trucks transported the fuselages, wings, booms, engines, and parts to Chino in early 2018 and Manclark formed “OV-10 Squadron” to pay tribute to the overlooked warbird and to restore as many to flight as possible.

“It was hard to find anything about an OV-10 and you couldn’t see one fly. I wanted to preserve the history for those who flew and maintained these underappreciated airplanes, from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Syria.”

The first D-model to be restored flew in 2019. Two more have been restored to flight and are now helping to train U.S. Air Force Joint Terminal Air Controllers with Las Vegas-based Blue Air Training (blueairtraining.com).

Manclark hopes to have a fourth Bronco flying in 2022 with a fifth in the air in 2023. To learn more about OV-10 Squadron visit their website, ov10squadron.com.

Meanwhile, Angela Bennett-Engele is a part of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, which displays three Broncos (fortworthaviationmuseum.com).

Top: Angele BennettEngele, Steve Bennett's daughter holds his Medal of Honor in front of OV10 Squadron's OV-10D flanked by pilot/restorer Matt Nightingale the group's founder Mike Manclark (in light blue shirt) and photo plane pilot JJ Johnson (in black shirt). Above: OV-10 Squadron founder Mike Manclark poses with Steve Bennett’s Medal of Honor. (Photos by Joseph Fischer)